Cicero, Illinois

Cicero is a suburb of Chicago and a town in Cook County, Illinois. It was founded on 28 February 1867, and it was named for the Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero. In 1911, the town's first air facility was built, and, during the 1920s, Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone moved to Cicero to escape the CPD, and the 1924 municipal elections turned violent as Capone sought to secure a favorable election result. From 11 to 12 June 1951, a race riot broke out in Cicero as 4,000 whites burned down an African-American family's home, leading to the National Guard being called in. During the 1960s, Cicero was a "sundown town" which did not allow any African-Americans to permanently live in the area, leading to rallies affiliated with the Civil Rights movement occurring in 1968. That year, the "sundown town" laws were struck down by the Civil Rights Act of 1968, and, during the 1980s and 1990s, a heavy influx of Mexican and Central American immigrants ended Cicero's domination by Czech-Americans. In 2018, Cicero had a population of 81,597 people.